Bomb blast kills at least 6, injures over 30 on bus in central Russia

Preliminary data suggests that a female suicide bomber conducted the attack on the bus in Volgograd, central Russia, killing six people and injuring 32, according to the Russian Investigative Committee.

A terrorist act has been confirmed by the National Anti-terrorist Committee.

“Today at 2:05pm Moscow time [10:05 GMT] in Volgograd inside a bus, as a result of an unknown explosive device going off, a blast happened, leading to casualties,” a national Anti-terrorist Committee representative said in the statement.

The Investigative Committee has identified the woman who was the suicide bomber: it’s allegedly Naida Asiyalova, from Dagestan.

The preliminary information indicates that “the female suicide bomber recently converted to Islam, and was the wife of a militant leader,” an Investigative Committee representative told the media.

Also, a grenade has been found under the vehicle and it’s now being checked whether the explosive is live, a source in the security forces now at the scene told RIA Novosti.

Forty passengers were on the bus. Seven of them are in critical condition. A 20-month-old toddler is among those injured. His state is assessed as moderately severe.

Russia’s Health Ministry indicated that most of the victims in the explosion sustained mine explosive-type wounds, caused by the bus’s paneling and the shattered glass.